Thoughts 
by Richard Stark, Blackstone Audio 2010, 5 hours
Narrated by John Chancer.
Challenge: Classics Club 50
SPIN (I never made an official list for this one due May 1st; I found out to late to post so I used the prior list.)
Genre: Noir Crime Fiction
Type/Source: Audiobook / Audible
Why I read this now: It was in the slot of the latest spin number.
MOTIVATION for READING: Anyone see the movie Payback with Mel Gibson and Maria Bello? It’s based on Stark/Westlake’s book, The Hunter. I wanted to read it because the movie is a favorite.
WHAT’s it ABOUT: The Hunter is a character called Parker and he is a small time independent kind of crook. He is not afraid to eliminate anything he disagrees with! This is a violent book.
Parker survives a job-gone-wrong (for him). The others thought they got away with it — unfortunately for them, Parker didn’t die. He comes back for his portion of the take.
WHAT’s GOOD: The language and characters were true to the movie. (How often do we turn that around like that?) Many scenes seemed lifted verbatim.
I was able to disconnect Parker from Mel Gibson in my head as I listened, but I was glad to keep my images of Carter, Bronson and Fairfax. Such a great cast.
What’s NOT so good: I said it was violent, right? The Maria Bello part was altered, as was the ending. You could say that the book inspired the film and the film goes much further (also violent). The tone is similar. The movie might offer a bit more humor. And Lucy Liu.
At five hours, this is a short story (compared to my usual audiobooks).
FINAL THOUGHTS: I enjoyed this adventure to read the book that a fave movie was based on. I’m glad to knock off a classic from the 50 AND that it was a SPIN finished by the deadline. Yay me. And there was pie!
RATING: Three slices.
$90,000 is a nice pie to split.
Care's Books and Pie 
I’ve never seen the movie, at least it’s not ringing any bells. Usually it’s the book before the movie so this write-up was a nice switcheroo. Glad it lived up (mostly) to expectations! Also, it’s hard for me to separate a movie character from a book character in my head. I see Emma Thompson when I read about Elinor in Sense and Sensibility, for example.
I can’t count how many times we’ve watched Payback. The 70s setting, the focus and humor, Lucy Liu was crazy. I won’t say it’s not violent so if not your type of movie, don’t watch.
Yes, Emma Thompson IS Elinor.